By Senad Karaahmetovic
Shares of Caterpillar (NYSE:CAT) are trading about 4.5% higher in pre-market Thursday after the company reported very good Q3 results.
Caterpillar posted a Q3 EPS of $3.95 to crush the analyst estimate of $3.17. Revenue for the quarter came in at $15 billion, again better than the consensus estimate of $14.15 billion. Revenue in the Machinery, Energy & Transportation segment soared 22% to fuel the beat.
Operating income soared 46% year-over-year to $2.41 billion easily exceeding the $2.01 billion consensus. The company said it returned $2 billion to its shareholders via share buybacks and dividends.
"I'd like to thank our global Caterpillar team for delivering another quarter of double-digit top-line growth and record adjusted profit per share," said Chairman and CEO Jim Umpleby. "Our team remains focused on serving our customers as we continued to see healthy demand across most of our end markets during the third quarter."
Goldman Sachs analysts highlighted that accelerating pricing fueled the Q3 beat.
“Demand indicators were mixed, with strong orders and Energy & Transportation retail sales balanced by unseasonal build in dealer inventories and softer Construction Industries retail sales,” they added in a note.